Thu Feb 21, 2013 at 06:08:49 AM EST

Good Morning Purple People!
.
It's time to wake yourselves up.
There's no snoozin' for the Moozin'.
cassandracarolina and I will be hosting the
Thursday thread so scribble a few thoughts and
Make Sure Your Peeps Know Where You Are!

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The RulzThe most important rule around here is...
Be kind to each other... or else.

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22 here on the lakefront but Snow looms Thursday night.
Winter weather advisory begins late Thursday night through 6pm Friday. Snowfall accumulations overnight and into mid-Friday morning are to fall in the 3 to 7 inch range, heavy enough in Chicago to rank as the 2012-13 season's heaviest to date. :-/

for those of you who have already gotten new snow,

Call of Duty beckons daddy, have to get Little O off to school and walk early Woozles. CC will be your host this morning and i'll try and check in a little later.

This is what, the fifth or sixth time this year they forecasted 3 - 5 inches of snow and we have never gotten much more than a dusting. Tommy skillethead said only 3 last night, Tracy Butler said 5+ this morning, they are all over the place! I am not holding my breath. Grumpity grump!

Looking forward to watching the moosies waking up and shaking off the cobwebs. I'm back in Texas after a lovely five-day sojourn to my place in southeastern NC. We're expecting a rainy, thunderstormy day here in the Houston area.

From the looks of the weather map, we may have some cold and soggy moosies, so I'd better fix a pot of coffee and some steamy oatmeal. Let's leave the kitchen door open and see who shows up!

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

It's always nice to hear from you. In my European travels, I have experiences some of the dreariest, most bone-chilling cold days (and I say this as someone who lived in New England for 54 years!) Stay warm and well, and keep us informed of moosie news from abroad!

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

You take care of the Woozles and don't be gettin' hypothermia out there. One little trick I used to use when I was out in the cold for long stretches - like a Patriot's night game in winter - was to stick one or two Thermacare Heat Wraps on under my clothes. If you can keep your back from tightening up, that's a huge help.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

But I will head back to work. dear occupant has done a spendiferous job with the check-in diary:
- Day of week. CHECK. (this is important for those who are retired ... all the days blend together)
- Mention of check-in. CHECK. We would hate for people to miss that we want to hear from them.
- Moose/Mooz/Meese/Herd. CHECK. For those who sit down while the coffee is still being brewed, it helps to know who we are.

Hours before a heavy blanket of snow descended on much of Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback took to the airwaves to warn residents to stay home, stay warm and the let the system pass.

The Republican governor said Wednesday that better technology and forecasting methods give state leaders a chance get ahead of such storms and warn residents to take precautions.

Psst! Sam!!! That forecasting comes from NOAA ... a Federal agency that you have voted to defund. Oh, and please don't ask for any Federal aid if your state needs help recovering from the storm. You would hate to become dependent on federal "handouts" or as we call them: help for the neediest Kansans ... that you also voted to defund.

Some day someone will have to explain to me how teaparty Republicans expect people to get by without food, shelter and healthcare. Do they really want people dying in the streets or are they convinced that it can't happen?

Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of Obama's performance in office, his strongest level of support since September 2009, according to a Bloomberg National poll conducted Feb. 15-18. Only 35 percent of the country has a favorable view of the Republican Party, the lowest rating in a survey that began in September 2009. The party's brand slipped six percentage points in the last six months, the poll shows.

The moose is a herbivore and is capable of consuming many types of plant or fruit. The average adult moose needs to consume 9770 Calories per day to maintain its body weight.[44] Much of a moose's energy is derived from terrestrial vegetation, mainly consisting of forbs and other non-grasses, and fresh shoots from trees such as willow and birch. These plants are rather low in sodium, and moose generally need to consume a good quantity of aquatic plants. While much lower in energy, these plants provide the moose with its sodium requirements, and as much as half of their diet usually consists of aquatic plant life.[45] In winter, moose are often drawn to roadways, to lick salt that is used as a snow and ice melter.[46] A typical moose, weighing 360 kg (790 lb), can eat up to 32 kg (71 lb) of food per day.[45]

Homeland from a brisk 25 degree NYC. Saw a great movie last night, "No," about the referendum that got rid of Pinochet, Hoping to find time today to google for more info. It's up for an Oscar but don't think it will get it. Most movies I like don't. Sigh. But first coffee and out of the house! Hope it's a good day for all.

Currently 23&deg in the Shenandoah Valley, with an expected high around 39. At least the wind has died down. Yesterday's wind was nasty - a lot of my work is outdoor work.

So far, the weekend's plans include doing more wiring work on my shop and starting tech rehearsals on a show I'm lighting. Oh, yeah - almost forgot - we will be going shopping sometime in there. Food in the house is a good thing.

I can take the cold, but hate the wind. When we built our hour in NH, it was on a windy hill, and we made the mistake of having vinyl siding. It looked great, but when it rattled in its plasticky channels, the sound was awful, as though the house was being blown apart.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Sad news from my poor sister. She lost her 12-year old cat, Cascade, unexpectedly to kidney disease about 10 days ago. Yesterday, she lost her old man, Bailey. He was about 16. His blood work was normal in January, but he just collapsed yesterday. The vets think that it was a brain tumor. She goes in for knee surgery later today. This has not been her year.

Sorry to hear the news about your sister. Bad news seems to come in clumps like that, just when we think we can't bear another setback. I know that you're already there with sisterly love, but we moosies love to pile on for a group hug too.

I do want to thank you for laying fown the first bread crumbs that led me to the purplicious moosie shores, blue jersey mom. This has been a fine place to set up shop with so many smart, literate, kindly, and good-looking cyber conpanions.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Nippy out there at the moment. Getting ready to take my niece to work. I drive 100 miles a day taking her to and from work but they need the money and it is a wonderful job for her.

Need to update my website when I get back home. I've been updating all my old pictures as well as doing several new ones. I also have a new recipe to put up.

I found some pictures I had started years ago and never finished for some reason. In some of them not a whole lot survived. I started this in 1998 and only the basic hill shapes survived. The trees now are so superior to what I had then. It is called "Secret Garden."

"A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world." Oscar Wilde

Thank you for sharing that with the moosies whose day looks cold and gray and clammy and snowy and stormy. Good on ya, too, for driving your niece to work. That's a lot of mileage and time. What a nice aunt you are!

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

it's not very cold but we're in for a howling blow out of the west. It's already started and since the sun hasn't come up yet that means it will get serious soon. The weather guy just advised everyone to secure "small children and lawn furniture". I think he's funny but one day he's going to really piss off the fundies around here.

There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head.--Thornton Wilder

Hey, if people are so humorless that they don't find that remark funny, they might be Republicans. Seriously, though, do check around your yard for the usual projectiles - bird feeders, hanging plants, garden tools. We are expecting the potential for hail in TX and my husband just suggested he take MY car today. Nope! Not happening!

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

I feel better toady than I have in a week. I had some sinus thing that mostly gave me a headache. Seem to be back to normal now. Just in time for snow! I love snow. Time to get out the crockpot and make some yummy bread. After my daughters ballet class of course.

for tonight. 5-7 inches expected with possible thundersnow. Work week is almost over - 7 hours to go. Now counting hours/days (6.5 days, or 150 hrs) to when I think I might get a call back from HR. Focusing on a count helps me to not focus/dwell on potential answers and I need all the help I can get!!

Try to keep busy with other stuff to stay sane, and remember that no news is often just no news. I applied for a job years ago and thought the interview went very well. Yet I heard nothing, and was saddened and depressed.

Finally, I called the company, expecting to be told that they'd hired someone else. To my astonishment, the person who took the call said "oh, we are SO glad you called! The day after you came in, the manager who interviewed you had a massive heart attack. He's been recovering, but he hadn't submitted any notes, so we didn't know how to reach you or what to tell you."

Long story short, I got the job, and launched my long career.

After that, I try not to let negative thoughts make me jump to any conclusions.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Late Tuesday I did get a good reply from HR:
"Hi Christine, thanks for the follow up as we have just wrapped up the interviews late last week and I'm traveling for business this week, so I may not get the chance to follow up with the management team until early next week to discuss all of the interviews. I understand that your interview went well and should have more information for you later next week if you were selected to move forward with the next steps. I'll be in contact soon.... "

But, I'm trying not to read too much into that. So, instead of focusing on possible outcomes, I'm looking at a time frame as to when I might expect to hear something.

I do have other stuff to deal with - work until 2pm, watch the snow fall tonight, find the driveway tomorrow, gaming tomorrow night.... then veg out..... then back to work on Monday.

with a little more sensitivity. Yes, the guy who had the heart attack recovered.

Unfortunately over the course of my career, I have seen quite a few managers - all male - have heart attacks. Suddenly, the same guy who drove himself and everyone else around him to work longer hours, give up vacation, eat crappy food at their desk in haste, and otherwise drive themselves senselessly hard becomes the person who now has to take weeks away from work to devote themselves to recapturing their health.

What's especially unfortunate about that sort of situation is that corporations do not care. To them, it's just a question of finding another sucker person to fill the void.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Bad day yesterday. Everything that could go wrong at work did go wrong at work, and that was before a 12' x 10' industrial steel framed sliding gate came out of its tracks and fell on me (the shoulder should be fine, given a little time).

Thankfully, given the nature of my job the only thing I can't do with an injured shoulder is move said sliding gate. Which is irrelevant because mgt has stomped their feet and the cage that stores my international marketing materials is currently without a gate until one can be put on that they trust not to attack folks.

Extremely functional! You can throw the snow using the axle
(2.00 / 15)

as the lever point - you never need to lift the snow. I can clear our driveway as quickly as my husband can using an electric snow thrower, but it's quieter while I'm working and clearer when I'm done.

I don't know what I'd do without my wovel once the snow is over four or five inches.

thrower. You need to push and work just as hard as if you were shoveling, but it moves two to three times as much snow for that effort. Unfortunately, it also makes a big racket and has some side spray. I find I can clear snow as quickly with the wovel as with his snow thrower, only quietly and cleanly. And no aching back!

After yesterday's radar false alarm about the snow, looks like the
(2.00 / 17)

forecast piles of the stuff is almost here. Kansas City had terrible conditions about an hour ago and it looks like the snow has started just west of Columbia. I-70 across Missouri will be a mess by early afternoon. Forecasters can't agree on the amount of snowfall but most fall between 4-8 inches plus ice.

Over on the GOS, C&J has a piece about the lovely Molly. Bill wrote quite a bit about the beloved gal, so do pay the diary a visit this am and send Michael and Bill more hugs.

"I base most of my fashion sense on whether or not it itches" -- Gilda Radner

I wonder if the Weather Channel has someone dedicated to coming up with new snowpocalicious names for weather phenomena. When we start hearing about "tornadosnow", it might be time to batten down the hatches!

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

We reschedule, which is not a big deal in itself, except this particular date coincided with a minor religious feasting day that very day, meaning I had the celebration caterered for me....and had a two for...and I felt like a double winner.

Frankly, I am getting tired of these snowpocalytic predictions. Eventually people will just ignore the hype, and then some really unfortunate things could happen. The Weather Channel may make some money crying "wolf" in the meantime, but they're not really helping to educate and arm the public with the information they need.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

'normal'. I can say that our weather guys are not going 'the sky is falling'. They're going - it's going to be snowing dudes, right at evening rush hour, so prepare yourself for the conditions expected.

There's something wonderful about getting a haircut, always a treat, especially for persons of a certain age like myself who have a color + cut which allows time to read magazines I wouldn't pay for (or be seen reading).

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

I just started going to the neighborhood barber a few months ago (before that I cut my own hair, buzzed very short). Anyway, all he has available to read are auto magazines and old Playboys. Neither is exactly my style, but I peruse the latter for the articles. Really!

Haircuts are my time to psych myself up for life. With each lock of hair that's snipped, I let something negative go. By the time the cut is finished I'm a new man :-)

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. ~Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Haircuts are my time to psych myself up for life. With each lock of hair that's snipped, I let something negative go. By the time the cut is finished I'm a new man :-)

I love that idea! I feel the same about my efforts to get rid of as much stuff as I can before I move to NC. There's something very liberating about letting stuff go (especially stuff that has any weighty emotional issues attached to it).

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Seems to be that sort of a day. But thanks to you and cassandracarolina I will have good company when I get my hair cut later this morning,"cause I'll be thinking of both of you and this delightful conversation! !

After hobbling down to the corner store for some milk, I find I'm not up to schlepping laundry AT ALL. Getting 'round the corner to the barbershop will be as much as I can manage today, I think.

Instead, I'll be doing hand washing of lightweight items (shirts and underwear) in the kitchen sink (once I do dishes, that is!), and my dirty jeans will just have to stay dirty. To HELL with making a good impression - I'll be spending most of my time next week in one of those delightfully chic hospital gowns anyway, LOL!

Luckily, I recently bought a nice drying rack I can set up in the bathtub. :-)

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. ~Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Sleeping pretty soundly around 5 this morning until the weather fairy decided to throw a mega ton thunder boomer out there...I really dislike getting woke up in panic! Mercy. Snow up north, storms down south. And here--warm on Monday, cold noses and toes on Tuesday, drizzle and cold on Wednesday, thunderstorms today and headed to the upper 60's. I've about decided the weather fairy must be suffering from a wicked bout of mood swings--Me thinks someone needs some chocolate. Stat.

Making chili and cornbread for dinner tonight, might throw together an apple betty, my guys love that. Couple of order to get done and out, but other than that, fairly quiet on the home front. A state I am indeed thankful for.

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"...."We make a Living by what we get...We make a Life by what we give."

...is always unpredictable - unlike summers, when fog is guaranteed. Just this past week we've had rainstorms (with actual snow on Bay Area peaks) and 70-degree weather even near the beach after frosty mornings.

I love apple betty, but I've always heard it called "apple BROWN betty." I think it was even listed that way on my elementary school's cafeteria menu, which IIRC is where I first tasted it. BTW, what's the difference between a "betty" and a "cobbler"?

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. ~Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

among southern cooks, no one really agrees on just what a cobbler is. I use pie dough in making my cobbler, layer of fruit and juice, strips of pie dough, more fruit and top it off with a pie dough top...My sister uses Bisquik dumplings, and my neighbor uses canned biscuits. I guess the basic cobbler is whatever you want it to be!

As to the difference between and apple brown betty (and you are correct in the name, I just us my mother's name for it!) A brown betty is usually topped with crumb mixture of some sort. I use my mom's recipe, she called it a quick oh my gosh we're having company! dessert.

It calls for pie filling, sometimes I stew apples for it, just depends on what I feel like...Other times I mix apple filling and cherry pie filling and my crumb top has oatmeal in it so it's a little different. I guess it's another one of those to each his own type deals :o)

And the weather...I really shouldn't complain as there are so many having to deal with much more serious circumstances than constant temp changes. I'm just ready to play in the dirt and watch Mother Nature work her magic...

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"...."We make a Living by what we get...We make a Life by what we give."

I should have known that already, as I've eaten plenty of both in my lifetime! :-)

And of course this topic is making me hungry, LOL!

p.s. I miss being a gardener. A few years ago my new landlord had all the lovely flowering plants in our back garden torn out and replaced with that horrid orange gravel. I had planted and tended a small green lawn, built an arbor, and lovingly pruned the bushes, some of which were 60 or 80 years old. I nearly wept when I saw the destruction, but since I don't own the property there was nothing I could do. :-(

There are, in every age, new errors to be rectified, and new prejudices to be opposed. ~Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

Especially for orange gravel. I'm sorry you lost your zen spot, gardens are always such a place of comfort for me. I enjoy being outside to work in the garden, but I also enjoy being outside to spin in the garden or on the front porch. I dearly want a butterfly bush so I can watch the butterflies a little more often. I have a few hummingbirds and they bring me such comfort and simple joy.

"A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle"...."We make a Living by what we get...We make a Life by what we give."

Chocolate always helps, and it even helps in making chili! I include it in my Cincinnati-style chili which is a big hit with Mr. Carolina and dozens of other people who've eaten it and gone on to live happy and productive lives.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

Combine everything except the meat, onion, and oil in a large pot or slow cooker capable of maintaining a simmering temperature for 4 - 5 hours. Dice the onions as finely as possible [a food processor is a big help!] and brown in a frying pan with the ground beef with a bit of olive oil over high heat. [For extra credit: save some of the diced onions to serve raw with the chili for those who enjoy them!] I cook the onions and meat in two batches so I can stir it in the frying pan as it cooks.

Drain the browned meat/onion mix through a sieve to remove the oil/liquid. Use a food processor (or electric mixer on medium speed) to grind up the meat/onion mixture. Then add this mixture to the rest of the contents and simmer over low heat for 4-5 hours, stirring occasionally.

When ready to serve, remove the bay leaves, and ladle the chili over cooked spaghetti and add the shredded cheddar cheese on top. Also goes well over hot dogs in rolls. In either case, pop the bowl or plate into a microwave oven for 30-60 seconds to help melt the cheese.

This makes 12 -16 servings, keeps very well in plastic containers in the refrigerator for weeks.

I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.